Marek Herman – (Find your own Martian!) Najdete si sveho martana!

“How are we supposed to get this one now?” I see you constant-complainers going at me again.

I do realize that it is available only in Czech and if my decision to write my reviews in English has been a questionable one, now it doesn’t make sense at all, and yet…

This is not me not caring about you though, this is me wanting you to finally do something. I want you to raise your voice and scream at your local publisher to get this book translated to your language (or English), cause it might save your life. So go do something!

(And this book is smart enough to predict that you won’t . This book is even smart enough to explain why won’t you do it. And it’s smart enough to be loving enough not to make you feel bad about yourself for not doing it.)

(Explanation of this and…) The ultimate message of this book is that you have been doing things wrong (some at least) and it’s cool that you want to change it, but it will take a while. (The not-so-classy-yet-precise metaphor used in the book refers to your bad habits as a pile of manure on a carriage and to your attempts to change them as a teaspoon unloading it. –> won’t be done in a minute…) So you might as well start to not be that strict on yourself. That would be your first teaspoon. ‘Nay it will be even a regular spoon, if you manage to embrace it. That is to say – I won’t be mad at you if we don’t manage to force the issue so to get this book distributed worldwide. (Disclaimer: I have no commission, I’m no MERCENARY (here I need you to imagine me having that thunderous voice, I don’t have. Something like Gandalf yelling at Biblo to not take him for some conjuror of cheap tricks.) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKaw5SjeHx0 if you have to…)

But it is a pity.

(It is a pity because…)

The penultimate message of this book might have been even bigger one than the one mentioned before and it is that you need to find and embrace your inner child. No doubt you heard that before, as it sure is a very-well promoted thought these days (rightfully so too), but what sets this book apart from the rest of the breed, is that it provides very good manual how to find that little rascal of yours (called Martian, as it inevitably has to feel like an alien on this planet where people do things they don’t want to, to impress people they don’t like…you know how that one goes…). Detailed, yet still amusing, manual and so you will probably end up “studying” rather than just enjoying this book. Again, if you want to change your life into happier one, it won’t be neither easy nor fast. I still think that even if you are as lazy as I, just a sheer reading of this book can give you much more than the vast majority of what I have read and/or reviewed.

(It really is something you want to read if you are going to be a parent and you know you are going to make a ton of mistakes. It might help you to make a tiny bit less. That tiny bit might become the difference between your daughter (I have a daughter and you know I’m being too personal in here) looking forward or not looking forward for your arrivals from work. That is a big one!)

(Yes, you guessed it, me being so blasé about you not being able to raise a voice for this book is just another dirty trick of mine…I really want you to do something with this! For your sake!)

Favourite line (now tell me, do you hold a grudge (I mean a real one) against someone? (Also, this is a translation, so if you happen to hate it, don’t blame the book, blame Mirko. He can live with that.)):

“Imagine that you are sitting in an auditorium of a beautiful theater. You are alone, surrounded by nothing but a half-light. You are looking at the light spot on the stage.

Your psyche is at ease and you are smiling.

Suddenly, you hear the sound of the steps. They are coming from behind, somewhere from the corridor, leading towards the wardrobe. Those steps are slowly but surely approaching the stage. They belong to the person who hurt you in the past. Try to imagine that person slowly, hesitantly, entering the light spot and you can see his face clearly. Now try to imagine, that this person is using his eyes to ask you something and “Yes” is the answer you provide him back with your eyes.

That person starts to do something, which makes him utterly happy, he is smiling, and his eyes are sparkling. And you are happy for him and you smile at him. Then you let him go, the sound of his steps is fading away, but you know that he is still happy. Stay sitting in that wonderful theater for a while and when you feel like, stand up and leave. You can return any time you want.”